The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7259 p110
26 July 2003

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DoH: Modernising the NHS hospital medicines manufacturing service (more)

Hospital manufacturing to be improved

Hospital pharmacies in England have been asked to bid for a share of £42m to be spent on improving their manufacturing facilities.

An implementation plan, published by the Department of Health, sets out priorities for the hospital manufacturing service, saying that its key role is to provide medicines tailored to the specific needs of individual patients where these needs cannot be met by licensed medicines. Other important roles include the early development of new products, supporting medicines research, manipulating licensed products so that they are fit for purpose at patients' bedsides, making products that are not commercially viable and filling in when commercial shortages arise.

This service is currently provided from about 100 hospital manufacturing units, some of which are expected to close. Others are expected to redirect their effort towards local, rather than national, needs.

Concern over the continued viability of hospital manufacturing led to an inquiry which decided that it should be restructured as a national service facilitated by an implementation board. It is this board that will assess bids and decide where the money is to be spent. Final decisions will be made by 17 October.

The aim is to arrive at a system of lead units, supported by strategic support units. Lead units will be expected to manufacture a wide range of terminally sterilised and/or non-sterile products and to have spare capacity to take on more work. Strategic support units will manufacture a range of sterile or non-sterile products and have collective capacity to back up their area lead units.

The improvement money is to be spent over two years, with £28m being spent in 2004–05 and £14m in 2005–06.